Authentication is the process by which a system determines whether something is truly what it declares itself to be. In today's dynamic and diverse marketplace, authentication is vital to ensuring security and exclusivity when accessing or downloading information remotely. The most traditional authentication processes involve a username and password to log into a system. Secure keyboards, smartcards, electronic tokens, and key logger protection have provided a variety of complex and expensive means of improved security, but often fall short as hackers and identity thieves have easily tailored their software to adapt to any increased security devices. Generally, hackers plant viruses, Trojans, worms, key logging and screen recording programs to exploit the weaknesses in the authentication processes described above.
As we continue to move towards a remotely accessed marketplace, authenticating users and protecting their information has become necessary for maintaining and growing the remote marketplace. Furthermore, though authentication tokens, secure keyboards, and the like provide increased protection to the average consumer, their cost is prohibitive and they rely on a predetermined set of hardware and software devices.
The present invention overcomes these problems by allowing consumers to remotely access or download information from computers, televisions, cellular telephones, and the web in conjunction with a low cost easy to use authentication tool that uses human interaction and senses as well as simple technology to provide the average consumer with an inexpensive, convenient, highly secure, adoptable and easy to use system to remotely access information securely.